This invention relates to an adaptor for use with an anesthesia mask to enable endotracheal intubation procedures to be performed on a patient while the patient is being ventilated under general anesthesia.
While endotracheal intubation using a fiberoptic laryngoscope is a relatively simple process when a patient is "awake" and has had topical anesthesia to the upper air way, the process is complicated, inter alia by the presence of an anesthesia mask and associated equipment, when a patient is being ventilated under general anesthesia. Devices have been proposed for enabling intubation equipment to be used during general anesthesia, such equipment, at least that known to applicant, is not entirely satisfactory.
For example, applicant is aware of a device referred to as a "Patil-Syracuse Mask" marketed by Bay Medical Inc., P.O. Box 20026, St. Petersburg, Fla. 33742, and devices such as the "Trach Swivel Adaptor" and "Fiberoptic Bronchoscope Adaptor" marketed by Portex, Inc., 42 Industrial Way, Wilmington, Mass. 01887. The Swivel Adaptor which is designed for post-intubation Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy will not fit standard anesthesia masks, will not accommodate an endotracheal tube larger than 5.5 mm in diameter, will be impractical for ventilating the patient when fiberoptic laryngoscope is inside the endotrachael tube and the Patil-Syracuse Mask is expensive and unsuitable for post-intubation Fiberoptic Bronchoscopy. Further, a single mask is unsuitable for patients of all sizes, so that a range of masks in different sizes must be available.
In contrast to the known equipment, the present invention provides a simple and inexpensive adaptor suitable for use with a conventional anesthesia mask to enable a variety of intubation procedures to be carried out during general anesthesia.